Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
LIAM
I should be in the middle of a board meeting, but I can’t focus on anything other than the fact that Isla needs me and I’m not there for her.
My phone buzzes.
Cillian: We found her.
I stride out of the room.
My position is secure here. I’m the owner and CEO, and no one can tell me what to do.
Even if I were to lose this position, I don’t care anymore. I just want Isla back. And if they’ve found her, does that mean Dare was able to hack into Cormac’s security cameras?
I head down the catwalk.
I have so much work to do, so much to catch up on, but I’ve been so angry. Angry at Cormac, at Allen, for being a coward still and avoiding me at every turn, at myself, angry at Cillian and Dare, angry at the whole situation.
I was drunk off my ass when Isla needed me, and all because I couldn’t handle my feelings, couldn’t handle the fact that I am in love with her.
I denied it even to myself for so long that it feels almost freeing to admit it—I’m crazy about her. Head over heels, in fact.
I don’t care that she's in love with Cill and Dare too. In fact, it might make my life easier. I’m intertwined with them because of our friendship and our lifestyle, and they’re always going to be there.
She’s ours, just like I said. And together, we can protect her better; we can do more, do better.
And I won’t let her slip from my hands again.
When I knock on the door at Dare’s, it’s Cillian who opens it.
“He's in the shower. Trust me, he needed it.”
I snort out a laugh. “I bet. He’s been burning the candle at both ends.”
“Aye.”
Cillian leads me to Dare’s PC, showing me the camera feed.
Isla appears to be sleeping now, tossing and turning in a big bed at Cormac’s mansion.
“Is she hurt?"
“I don't know. The quality isn’t great. Cormac cheaped out on his cameras, apparently.”
“I’m not surprised. He’s always been a stingy bastard.”
“Liam, what the hell are we going to do?” Cillian looks haggard, hasn’t shaved, his eyes haunted.
I’ve been thinking about this ever since Isla was taken. “I have a plan.”
Dare comes out of the shower, wearing a pair of sweats and no shirt. He rubs a hand across his face. “What’s the plan?”
I look at him, taking in his exhausted eyes, the way his shoulders slump. “First, you’re going to eat and get at least four hours of sleep.”
Dare scoffs. “How much have you been sleeping?”
My mouth clicks closed.
“That's what I thought. I’ll take a nap, but first, I want to know what we’re thinking.”
I nod. “I’ve been preparing since we got home empty-handed when she was taken. I just had to know where she was to hammer the final details.”
Cillian nods, and Dare just stares at me expectantly.
“Since she is at the mansion, the idea is to set up a meeting with Cormac. I’ll tell him it’s about us raiding the warehouse and taking the drugs. He has no idea that Isla means anything to us.”
I’m pacing as I speak, the final pieces of the rescue puzzle clicking into place. “Dare will rig the camera feeds. We need the feed to loop long enough that Cill can jump over the back fence and look for Isla without being made.”
I turn to my brother. “I’ll text you when the coast is clear. I need you to remember, though the cameras won’t be a problem, I’ll be stuck in the office, and Dare is the tech support; he’ll stay in the van, so you’re on your own. And there’ll still be guards. You’ll have to fight.”
Cillian grins and cracks his knuckles. It’s a dark look that promises nothing good. “Back to my roots.”
I nod, pacing again. “Cillian will grab Isla while I distract Cormac in the meeting. As soon as one of you texts me that she is safe and in the van, I’ll walk out the front door with him none the wiser.
As soon as you have her, you take off, and I’ll leave in my car. We’ll meet up at the safehouse.”
“You know this means war, right?” Dare asks incredulously.
I run a hand through my hair. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, we need to bring our girl and our baby home.”
They both fall silent. This will be an all-out war, and we all know it, but Isla’s worth it, and we all agree on that.
I look at my watch, and it’s past dinner time. As much as it pains me, the call needs to wait until morning, so Dare orders pizza for all of us on his phone and we eat in veritable silence, all of us lost in our own thoughts.
By the time Dare lies down to nap, it’s close to midnight.
Cillian heads home to sleep himself, and I do, too.
But as soon as my head hits the pillow, I end up just staring at the ceiling.
She’s alone and scared, and I should have been there for her.
As soon as Dare told us where she was, I should have remembered Cormac sometimes has business in Culver, and I knew he would think she was Maggie Sullivan, too.
Fuck, as much as I deserve to spend the rest of my life beating myself up about this, I need to rest, even if just for an hour. I need to be on top of my game for everything to go smoothly on my end.
I need to have the chance to grovel to Isla every day for the rest of my life. I know I don’t deserve forgiveness, but I’ll do everything in my power to show her how I really feel about her from now on.
And the first step is to close my eyes and sleep for a couple of hours. The second is to make this meeting happen.
After exactly two hours of sleep and countless twists and turns in bed, at around eight the next morning, I make a call to Cormac.
He answers on the third ring. “Liam! It’s been a dog’s age.”
“Aye. How are you?”
I hate the hypocrisy, hate the falseness, but the parts have to be played.
“Fine, fine. How’s your father?”
I freeze at the question. I’ve been keeping my father’s condition under wraps for years. “He’s well.”
“Good to hear.”
“Good. Now, I’m calling because we need to meet.”
“Aye, I think that's wise, given this week's... unpleasantness.”
“Aye, and the sooner, the better. I want to settle this today if possible.”
He’s quiet for a moment, and anxiety rushes through me.
I need him to let me meet him at the mansion, not one of his warehouses or a public place.
“My place. An hour?”
My shoulders sag, but I try not to show it in my voice.
“I’ll be there.”
Hanging up the phone, I take a shaky breath and text Cillian and Dare in our group chat.
One hour.
It takes less than half an hour for us all to meet up. They have the rigged, blacked-out SUV, and I take one of my nondescript sedans, and we meet up a half mile from the entrance to Cormac’s mansion.
“We’ve got this, right?” Dare’s brow furrows.
He looks better, freshly shaven and showered, having gotten some sleep.
Cillian claps him on the shoulder. “We’ve got this, Dare. All you have to do is loop the cameras. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“I know you’re tough, Cill, but the security—”
“I got this.” Cillian’s voice turns low and dangerous, and Dare shuts his mouth quickly.
Dare sighs and gets into the SUV, pulling open his laptop, which looks worse for wear.
I frown. “You sure that thing can loop the cameras?”
Dare glares at me. “Don’t talk shit about Betsy.”
I snort.
Cillian cracks a smile. “We’re going to get our girl back.”
I nod.
Everything needs to be flawless.
Dare gets in and gets some footage that he then runs on loop.
We both get in our cars, me in the sedan and them in the SUV, and we head to Cormac’s.
Halfway there, we split up. I’m going to the front gate. They’ll park in a forested area at the back of the property for better coverage.
Cormac’s mansion is heavily guarded, but we studied every aspect we could of it.
Two men greet me at the front gate.
“Name?” one of them barks.
“Liam Hayes.”
The man presses something, and a buzz sounds, opening the gate.
I drive through the gate and park as close to the front door as I can before getting out.
Cormac meets me on the large porch.
It’s kind of homey, for an evil man’s mansion, with two rocking chairs sitting next to each other.
“Nice to see you again, Liam.” Cormac smiles brightly at me, and looking at him, you’d just think he was someone’s grandfather.
He’s dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a button-up shirt.
“Wish it was under better circumstances.”
Cormac waves his hand, turning to walk into the house.
I follow him up the spiral staircase into his office.
He heads behind his mahogany desk, sitting down.
Sitting across from him, I lean forward.
“I assume you’ve come to talk about the incident at my warehouse.”
“Aye.” I look up at him with my hands clasped in my lap. “Someone has been smuggling fentanyl-laced cocaine into the city. We are raiding major warehouses to try and find who is doing it and who has been scammed by them.”
Cormac scoffs. “I don’t mess around with that fentanyl stuff. I don’t understand it, and I want to keep my customers alive and well.”
I nod. “Fair enough. But we tested yours, and it came back as laced.”
“What the fuck?” He stands up, hands on the desk, hackles raised.
“Yes, so now you understand why I requested urgency. I know my methods cost you some men, and I’m willing to negotiate for that, but I can’t, in good conscience, return the laced product to you.”
“Aye.” He raises an eyebrow. “But that leaves me with a loss in the millions, if not billions. What do you suppose we do about that?”
“That’s why I’m here. I want to propose a truce so we can join forces and find out who this son of a bitch is. Then you can settle your score with them.”
He looks at me with something like respect. “All right. How should we do this?”
I tilt my head as if considering. “Since all the major warehouses have been already raided, I think we should have teams with both your men and mine, and we raid the smaller places and scour every inch of this city until we catch a rotten rat.”
He grins, and it makes him look ten years younger. “You have a good head on your shoulders.”
“Thank you. I don’t mind a little fair competition, but when people start killing both your client base and mine, they are dipping into our pockets. And there is no way I’ll let that slide.”
“Good. In the meantime, let’s have a drink.”
“I’d love a drink,” I say, although I’ve sworn off alcohol after what happened last time I drank.
When Cormac turns to pour the drinks, I pull my phone out of my pocket, texting Dare and Cillian.
It’s time.
I have no idea how this is going to go down.
It’s a good plan, but “the best laid plans” and all that shit.
Even if we get Isla back, she may be angry with us, she may not want us anymore. But as long as we have her with us, we can take our time to win her back.
And then there’s the issue of Cormac. He won’t take this lightly, and we’re going to be in for a full-on war.
I don’t care. He is a thorn in my shoe, so bring it on.
But I’m ready to do whatever I can for Isla and the baby.
I’ll lay down my life for them.
That’s what love is.